Hot spots: Artishow, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue, France

Well, it is. Objets d'art are placed all around the house, every piece of furniture has a design pedigree - chairs by Charles Eames and Philippe Starck, lamps by Arne Jacobsen and Ettore Sottsass - and there are original artworks, including paintings by Victor Vasarely, in all the rooms. The performance comes from the host, Yves de Montigny, an international art dealer and collector who spent many years in New York and an amusing raconteur who forms a theatrical presence around the house. In French the name is a play on words: Artishow sounds the same as artichaut, which means artichoke.

Don't be too harsh; this is a place with a great story. Monsieur de Montigny amassed an enormous stock of artistic goods hidden away in storage but which, he mused, ought to be doing the job they were made for. He hit on the idea of creating a home-cum-hotel filled with furniture and decorative items, which could not only be enjoyed by his guests, but could be bought by them, too. He acquired a semi-ruin with parts dating from the 12th century that, from 1557 to 1917, had been a hostelry named the White Horse Inn, in the historical heart of an old Provencal town, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. After three years' hard work, a place of great beauty and unique luxury was opened to guests as Artishow Bed and Breakfast.

Don't be fooled, that's a monumental understatement. The only thing it has in common with your typical B&B is the location, within a living home, and diminished services during the day. Even so, genial housekeeper Isabelle will knock you up a snack when none of the nearby eateries are open. Artishow doesn't apply that dreaded policy of the traditional British B&B, the home of the concept, whereby you get kicked out after breakfast and are not allowed to darken the door until sundown. You can enjoy its comforts all day long, and they are considerable.

A courtyard with a garden, a living room with an open fireplace (top), a heated indoor pool (above), a freshwater stream that gushes alongside the ground floor and can be bathed in, a spiral stone staircase (right) dating from the Renaissance, a jacuzzi and a sundeck on the roof, rooftop views across the old town (bottom) - and that's before you get to the guest rooms, which are fabulous.

There are five spacious suites with dramatically different styles, each named after an artist. The Mondrian is brightly modernist, with geometric designs recalling the Dutch artist matched by a classic Gerrit Rietveld wooden armchair. The Cézanne has the warmth of old-world luxury including sumptuous curtains that once adorned the Plaza Hotel's ballroom in New York. The enormous 90-square-metre Prével features Chinese antique furniture and a modern sofa set that can seat a dozen people. The shiny Vasarely plays op art tricks on you. The Max B (below) has a four-poster bed with a leopard-skin pattern bedspread on which Cleopatra would look at home.